Grip Force Feedback in an Electric Hand - Preliminary Results

Abstract

Feedback of sensation has long been the dream of developers (and wearers) of prosthetic hands,\nand many earlier efforts have made progress, but never a practical commercially-available system.\nAlthough grip force feedback (GFF) is an obvious shortcoming in a hand prosthesis, it has\nbeen slow to develop because of the innate difficulties of providing consistent and accurate feedback\ninformation to the wearer of an electric hand. A truly useful GFF system must provide, 1)\ntrue clinical relevance (we feel it should demonstrably improve control of grip force, contribute\nto a more natural feel, and represent an acceptable ratio of cost to benefits provided), and 2) technically\nprovide a practical system which can operate for months reliably, and be small enough to\ninstall into a cosmetic-looking prosthesis.